The present application pertains to foldable, flexible walled coolers for preventing a temperature change in hot or cold items placed in such a cooler.
Portable coolers for transporting food and beverages are very popular due to their ability to prevent cooled or heated food and beverages from changing temperature over a period of time. People use these coolers to carry food and beverages when they go to work, to school, to sporting events, to picnics, to go camping, or countless other activities where refrigeration or heating is not easily accessible or possible.
Softwalled coolers have also become very popular of late. Softwalled coolers have many advantages over the standard hardwalled coolers, including their lighter weight, greater portability, and greater comfort when transporting such coolers. These softwalled coolers are typically constructed by sandwiching a section of thermally insulating foam between two pieces of flexible fabric. Several pieces of this sandwiched component are then stitched together to achieve a desired final shape.
More recently, softwalled coolers have been manufactured to be able to fold into a smaller package when not in use. This allows for the cooler to be stored and handled more easily when the cooler is not being used to carry food or beverages.
Problems, however, have arisen in relation to the functionality of these softwalled coolers, both with and without having the capability to fold into a more compact structure. The coolers do not provide the structural support or waterproofing that is commonplace in hardwalled coolers. Structural support is desirable in order to provide ease of movement so that the bottom or floor supporting food and beverages in a softwalled cooler does not sag when the cooler is transported. Waterproofing is also desirable for several reasons. First, when the carrier is used to maintain the temperature of cold items, ice or some other cold medium is used to maintain the cooled temperature. As the ice or other medium melts, water from the ice or condensation from an ice substitute is created which tends to accumulate inside the carrier. Most softwalled carriers tend to leak, as they are sewn together, and the seams become saturated and provide a path for leakage. This leakage may also result in saturation of the thermally insulating material which hinders its ability to provide a thermal barrier.